Topic: Ghave, Guru of Spores [EDH, Opinion, Discussion]

Hello all, I thought I would give some food for thought today and see if you can help me refine a problem EDH deck.  It is my Ghave, Guru of spores deck and I love playing it but I usually lose.  I am pretty sure I know why but I would like to get other opinions on the matter so please don't hesitate to contribute.

Some things worth mentioning:

1.  The main strategy is to put out a bunch of tokens and sac them to control the board through Grave Pact and Butcher of Malakir.  I chose this method over board-clearing effects like Wrath of God and Damnation.

2.  I am contemplating going the "cheese" route and just tossing a bunch of swords and titans in the deck but I was originally trying to avoid that strategy.  Although, there are some seriously devastating synergies with Sun Titan and Necrotic Sliver that I feel I am missing out on.

3.  You don't need to worry about what's in my inventory or not; I can always trade for the cards you suggest if I choose to run them. 

Here is the deck:  http://deckbox.org/sets/143814.  I am excited to see what this group can put together.  Thanks in advance!

Re: Ghave, Guru of Spores [EDH, Opinion, Discussion]

This deck is seriously lacking a doubling season.  No excuse not to run it. smile

Other than that. Harmonic Sliver works well with Necrotic Sliver and Sun Titan.

Look into running the disgusting reveillark shenanigans:
Eternal Witness, Reveillark, Karmic Guide, Saffi Eriksdotter.

http://i46.tinypic.com/14ihoq9.jpg

Re: Ghave, Guru of Spores [EDH, Opinion, Discussion]

I have been looking to trade for a Doubling Season for a few months now and had no luck sad  I might break down eventually and eBay one but I really don't want to.  I agree though, it's a required card in this deck.

That 4-pack of reveillark cards is awesome; I can't say I've ever seen that combination before.  Thanks for the tip!

Re: Ghave, Guru of Spores [EDH, Opinion, Discussion]

A little while after starting this thread I reworked the deck with the following goals in mind:

Increase speed.
Generate tokens more reliably.
Recover from board-wiping effect better.

Here is the deck with my changes:  http://deckbox.org/sets/151791

If you compare this deck to the one I first posted you'll notice a dramatic shift in the mana curve as well as the overall way the deck plays out.  The deck, in this form, plays faster, is more consistent and recovers from board-wiping effects very well.  I sometimes barely feel the effect while my opponents are set back quite a bit.

With the addition of a Doubling Season and the Reveillark package suggested by Mahl-Binx I feel the deck will perform considerably better and I will have achieved my goal.  We will see...

Re: Ghave, Guru of Spores [EDH, Opinion, Discussion]

Well firstly just on principal I have to suggest removing the Titans and swords, only because I don't like the idea of cards that make pretty much any deck better that being said I actually have some ideas:

First martyr's bond, coupled with grave pact and the butcher ... it gets disgusting really fast three for one, for each opponent

Then cathars' crusade > Juniper Order Ranger especially with Ghave out, think pay 1 to take off a counter, then the crusade puts one back on, its infinite with Ashnod's Altar

Next, the same as everyone else doubling season, blah blah blah, it's amazing but don't stress too much about it, it's really good, but most of the time parallel lives is pretty much just as good especially in your deck because aside from Ghave, the Ranger, spike weaver, and of course the walkers, there's nothing that uses counters and it can screw you over against infect/wither, I run Melira because of that reason.

Another Card I would really push because of experience is Requiem Angel, you get tokens when your non spirit tokens die, therefore you're getting tokens for everything the only exception in your deck is the Geist-Honored Monk, Midnight Haunting, and lingering souls so it's pretty sweet when you sac a Saproling for two mana, your opponents each sac 3 creatures and you get a FLYING token to replace it smile

http://deckbox.org/users/imsully2